Two employees of Alexei Navalny are arrested by the police.
Russian cities barricade themselves from new protests.
Update from Wednesday, April 21, 2021, 11:14 a.m.:
Before new planned protests against the imprisonment of Kremlin opponent Alexej Navalny, two close employees of the opposition were arrested.
According to her lawyer, his press spokeswoman Kira Jarmysch was picked up by officials in her doorway in Moscow on Wednesday morning when she was about to go shopping.
According to her lawyer, the lawyer Lyubov Sobol, also a confidante of Navalny, was dragged out of a taxi by the police and taken away.
Navalny employees were arrested in several cities on Tuesday.
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The Navalny confidante Lyubow Sobol clashed with the Russian police in January.
Now she has been arrested.
© Dmitry Golubovich / dpa
Navalny's team spontaneously announced protests in more than 160 Russian cities this Wednesday because the health of 44-year-old Navalny in the prison camp is said to have deteriorated massively.
The opposition, who barely survived a poison attack last summer, has been complaining about severe back pain and paralysis in his arms and legs for a long time.
He went on a hunger strike about three weeks ago to protest the lack of medical care.
Protests by Navalny supporters: cities cordon off centers
In several Russian cities, authorities cordoned off the city centers before the planned protests.
In the city of Yekaterinburg east of the Ural Mountains, for example, the city administration announced the temporary closure of several streets with reference to a night military exercise.
In the capital Moscow, too, numerous metal grilles were erected not far from Red Square.
Not only did Navalny supporters want to demonstrate in the vicinity in the evening, but President Vladimir Putin also wanted to give his annual speech to the nation at noon.
The city of Moscow had warned against participating in the unauthorized demonstrations and announced that it would take “all necessary measures” to ensure public order.
Navalny can "hardly sit and speak"
+++ 4.45 p.m.:
According to his lawyer Olga Michailowa, Alexej Navalny receives “no medical help” in the prison hospital of a prison camp in the Vladimir region.
The Kremlin critic is "very weak, can hardly sit and speak," said Mikhailova.
The lawyer calls for Nawalny's immediate transfer to a civilian hospital.
Her client, who has been on hunger strike for three weeks, "can hardly sit and speak."
Before he was transferred from the Pokrov penal camp, the prison authorities responsible there had described Navalny's condition as "acceptable", whereas his doctors had warned against a heart attack.
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Alexei Navalny has been on hunger strike for three weeks.
(Archive image)
© Press Office of Moscow s Babushk via www.imago-images.de
Navalny in the hospital - spokeswoman: "Alexej is dying"
Update from April 20, 2021, 1 p.m.:
Alexey Navalny was transferred to a hospital in the Russian city of Vladimir.
This was confirmed by one of the lawyers of Russia's most prominent prisoner, as reported by "Spiegel".
The hospital specializes in prisoners;
His supporters strongly doubt whether the well-known opposition politician can be helped there.
Navalny, who is serving his maximum sentence in a penal colony east of Moscow, has long complained of a back ailment, which also leads to numbness in his arms and legs.
The opposition politician had asked to be treated by doctors he trusted.
He is legally entitled to do so, but so far this has been refused by the Russian authorities.
Doctors from Kremlin critic Navalny: In the worst case, cardiac arrest
Navalny started a hunger strike to protest.
Navalny's doctors warned last Friday (April 16, 2021) that Navalny's health was critical.
You suspect a kidney defect, which in the worst case could lead to cardiac arrest.
Navalny's press spokeswoman even said, according to the "Spiegel": "Alexej is dying, in his current condition this is a matter of days."
Alexei Navalny returned to Russia in January after recovering from poisoning with the chemical warfare agent Novichok for months in Germany.
Presumably, the mastermind behind the attack on the opposition politician is the Russian domestic secret service FSB.
Russian authorities: condition of Kremlin critic Navalny "acceptable"
Update, 11.30 a.m.:
How badly is Alexej Navalny ill?
After his representatives Leonid Volkov and Ivan Zhdanov spoke in a video of a dramatic deterioration in the state of health (see update 10.12 a.m.), the Russian prison authorities have now also made a statement.
Accordingly, the Kremlin critic is to be transferred to a hospital for prisoners.
The state of the opposition is "acceptable", it said from the official side.
The doctors of the 44-year-old, who has been on hunger strike for around three weeks, had warned of cardiac arrest in the past few days.
Update from April 19, 2021, 10:12 a.m.:
Supporters of the government critic Alexej Navalny are calling for mass protests for the imprisoned opposition activists across Russia on Wednesday.
Navalny is dangerously ill and could die "any minute".
There is therefore no time to hesitate and the street protests should be resumed.
In a video posted on Navalny's YouTube channel, his representatives Leonid Volkov and Ivan Zhdanov said that Navalny's health had deteriorated so dramatically that a mass public rally was the only way to save him.
Volkov urged citizens to gather in squares across the country at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
Russia: Conflict between Navalny and Putin continues to worsen
“Have you ever seen a person murdered with your own eyes?
You're seeing it right now, ”said Volkov.
He added, “If we don't speak up now, it will be the darkest of times for free people.
Russia will sink into utter hopelessness. "
The timing of the planned protests is deliberately chosen and represents a further escalation in the conflict between the oppositionist Navalny and the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin wants to deliver his annual State of the Union address at this time.
Most recently, the Kremlin used brutal force to stop street protests for Navalny.
There were thousands of arrests.
Oppositionist Navalny: Russia wants to classify the foundation as an extremist organization
According to the British Guardian, the Russian public prosecutor also wants to classify Nawalny's anti-corruption foundation FBK as an extremist organization. This would allow the authorities to detain Nawalny's colleagues as "terrorists" for up to six years. Navalny himself had been arrested on his entry from Germany, where he was recovering from poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok. Navalny blames the Kremlin for the poisoning.
+++ 3:50 p.m.:
In view of the health problems of the imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny, the USA is threatening the government in Moscow with "consequences if Navalny dies".
There are various possible measures, US President Joe Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned on CNN on Sunday.
Nawalny's doctors had previously warned the 44-year-old about cardiac arrest in view of his deteriorating health.
“Our patient can die at any minute”: Alexej Navalny's doctors sound the alarm
First report from April 18, 2021, 11:30
a.m
.:
Moscow - According to doctors, the imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny is threatened with cardiac arrest because of his deteriorating health. Navalny's personal doctor Anastasia Wasiljewa and three of her colleagues, including a heart specialist, demanded access to the detainee from the prison authorities on Saturday (April 17, 2021). Because of critical potassium levels, President Vladimir Putin's adversary was threatened with impaired kidney function and serious heart rhythm problems “every minute”. US President Joe Biden * was concerned about the reports on Saturday and criticized the conditions for the 44-year-old.
Usually, potassium levels greater than 6.0 require prompt treatment, the doctors said.
Navalny's value is 7.1.
Her letter to the Russian prison authorities was posted on Vasilyeva's Twitter account on Saturday.
The letter addressed to the head of the prison also stated that the 44-year-old was threatened with "cardiac arrest".
Alexej Navalny's doctor warns: "Our patient can die at any minute."
The cardiologist Jaroslaw Aschichmin warned on the Facebook online service: "Our patient can die at any minute." He must be transferred to an intensive care unit.
The Navalny confidante Kira Jarmysch wrote on Facebook: "Alexej dies." With his constitution, it is "a matter of days".
More than 70 internationally known authors, artists and academics, including Jude Law, Vanessa Redgrave and Benedict Cumberbatch, called on Putin to guarantee adequate medical treatment for Navalny.
US President Biden replied to a question from journalists about Navalny on Saturday: "It is totally, completely unfair, and totally inappropriate".
The Green MEP Sergey Lagodinsky called on the German government and the EU to urge Putin to transport Navalny's to the EU.
"Navalny is in immediate mortal danger," he told the newspapers of the editorial network Germany (RND, Sunday editions).
"To help him is our human duty."
Russia: Navalny wants to reach adequate supplies with hunger strike
According to his wife Julia Navalnaya, the 1.89-meter-tall Kremlin critic currently weighs 76 kilograms - nine kilograms less than when he started his hunger strike two weeks ago and 17 kilograms less than before he was transferred to the detention center in the small town of Pokrov in February.
With the hunger strike, the 44-year-old opposition politician wants to ensure that he is given adequate medical care.
Nawalny's supporters are demanding that he be transferred to a regular hospital *.
According to her, he recently complained of severe back pain and numbness in his arms and legs.
Alexej Navalny's supporters: inside gather for “biggest protest” in Russia
Last August he survived an attack with the nerve agent Novichok.
After the attack, for which Navalny blames the Kremlin, he was flown to Germany and treated at the Berlin Charité.
On Friday, the Russian authorities started proceedings to ban the anti-corruption foundation Navalnys.
Its supporters are currently collecting online participants for the “largest protest in modern Russia”.
As soon as they reach 500,000 registrations, they would set a date for the protests, the organizers said.
As of Saturday, 440,000 people had registered.
More than 11,000 people were arrested in nationwide solidarity demonstrations for the opposition in January and February.
(AFP)
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List of rubric lists: © Dmitry Golubovich
